Kyoto and Osaka
Early Saturday morning I took the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto,
where I was rescued by my friend Jer and taken on a quick tour of his
favourite places in the city. We were in a bit of a rush because we
wanted to watch the O-ban closing ceremony in the evening so we rented
bikes and rode around the city. First we visited a temple but I'd seen
enough temples in Kamakura so I wasn't blown away by it. After that,
however, we went to the "Silver" Pavilion, where I was quite impressed
by the sand art. I'd been feeling rather illiterate all week so being
able to ask Jer what all the signs meant was a pleasant change. On our
way to Jer's place we went through the Philosopher's Walk, where we
philosophized as we walked. We made it to his place just before it
began raining. Watching the rain pour down, we wondered how it would
affect the giant bonfires scheduled for the evening but the rain
stopped after a couple of hours. We returned the bikes and took up a
spot in a park where we had a decent view of the of the 5 bonfires
that were to be lit in a large arc on the outskirts of Kyoto. After
watching the fires for a while, we headed back to Jer's place and
chatted over some unfiltered rice wine before turning in.
The next morning I took the Shinkansen to Osaka and explored the city
for a while, getting lunch and a haircut before visiting Osaka Castle.
The castle grounds are now a park, in which I wandered around for a
while, admiring the outer and inner moats. The inner one is a dry
moat, as it always has been. Although almost everything is free to
access, there's a small fee (slightly under $6) for the castle museum,
which is housed in a very tall building that resembles a pagoda. I
took the elevator up and, after taking in the lovely view from the
gallery at the top, proceeded to make my way down through each floor,
learning all about the castle's history as I did so. By the time I
made it out, it was about time for me to head back so I took one last
stroll through the grounds and then caught the Shinkansen back to
Tokyo.
